Tire/wheel assembly facilities may incorporate one or more automated tire/wheel assembly lines for mounting vehicle tires onto vehicle wheels. This process typically involves, amongst other operations: (a) mounting of a tire onto a wheel, (b) inflating of the tire to the desired pressure, and (c) balancing of the tire/wheel assembly. Most of these operations, if not all, can be accomplished by use of an automated, quick-inflating technique by means of a robotic system or the like.
Although conventional techniques provide the benefit of quickly assembling a tire to a wheel, such techniques may require large quantities of air during the inflation process. Also, known inflation systems exert large forces on the tire bead and the wheel bead seat during the inflating step. In order to accommodate these large forces, heavy, robust structures are typically required for inflating a tire mounted to a wheel. A need therefore exists for a device, system, and quick inflating technique that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.